Although his being drafted in the second round of MLB’s 2013 June Draft made news in Japan, Nippon Ham Fighters second baseman Gosuke Kato said Saturday he didn’t picture himself playing pro ball here.
“But it was always in the back of my mind, because I’m Japanese, and all my heroes came from Japan, like Ichiro and all the guys in the big leagues that I watched came from here. It’s been amazing so far, and I’ve enjoyed the experience,” Kato said at Chiba Marine Stadium before the Fighters’ game with the Lotte Marines.
We had Monday baseball for the second straight week, with SoftBank hosting one of its company parties for Kanto area employees by hosting a game at Tokyo Dome. This year’s boasted an old-timers’ matchup between Tsuyoshi Wada and Masahiro Tanaka.
And while that was going on, Monday was also Roki Eve, with Sasaki’s first start after interleague pushed back a few days, setting up a matchup between him and his WBC BFF, Hiroya Miyagi in Osaka.
Eagles 3, Hawks 2: At Tokyo Dome, there wasn’t much to tell the difference between Wada and Tanaka in this one, but Tanaka (4-4) allowed a run over seven innings, while the Eagles tagged Wada (5-3) for two runs over five, putting better swings on his pitches than the Hawks managed.
